Smith's two strikes sink Sens

Reilly Smith scored twice in the third period to
put the game out of reach. (Getty Images)

Final:Bruins 5, Senators0

Recap:Reilly Smith had
a pair of goals and the red-hot Bruins power play struck again as
Boston won its third straight in the opening game of a
home-and-home with the lowly Senators.

The Bruins came
out of the gates a bit sleepy after their four-day Christmas
break, but after getting outshot 15-5 by Ottawa in
the first period, they pumped 20 shots on Robin Lehner in
the second. That sparked a strong finish that
included the
game-winning power play goal
from JaromeIginla and
insurance markers from David Krejci, Smith and
Brad Marchandas the B's
pulled away from the 11th-place Senators for their third straight
victory.

A quiet first
period saw Tuukka Rask make 15 saves en route to his 20th
career shutout, which moves him past Hal Winkler for sole
possession of eighth all-time in the franchise's history. The
Bruins gave Rask a bit of a break over the final 40 minutes,
though, outshooting the Senators 37-18 to run away with
it.

Iginla opened the scoring with 3:31 to go in the
second, snapping a loose puck in from the slot on the power play.
It's the third straight game with a power play goal for the Bruins
– a feat the team hadn't achieved since Jan 22-31, 2012. The
power play is 5-for-8 over those three games. Krejci scored just 38 seconds into the third period on
a Matt Bartkowski assist, and that started the rally for the
Bruins. Smith's two
goals, scored at the 10:20 and
17:26 marks of the third moved
him to 14 for the year, the team high. Marchand, who had a
bevy of open looks in the game, finally cashed in with 27 seconds
to go while the B's were shorthanded.

The one blemish of
the night game with 4:35 to go, when
Dennis Seidenberg had awkward
collision with Ottawa's
Cory Conacher behind the Bruin net, and went down in a
heap. Seidenberg skated off under his own power after clutching his
right leg, and didn't return. Coach Claude Julien said
Seidenberg will not make the trip to Ottawa for Saturday night's
rematch.

Records:Boston 26-10-2, 54 points; Ottawa
15-18-7, 37 points.

Key Play
of the Game:It's almost
impossible to believe how well the Bruins' power play units are
playing right now, given the club's notorious woes over the last
few years, but Iginla's goal is
a perfect example of everything that's going
right. Krejci smartly left a puck for Iginla in
the corner as Eric Gryba harangued
him, and No. 12 walked it back to Krejci, who
found Torey Krug at the point. The diminutive defensemen
wound up and fired a shot off of Chris Phillips, with the deflection landing
at Iginla's feet. The veteran showed quick reflexes in
turning and putting a shot past Robin Lehner for the
only goal the Bruins ended up needing in the game, thanks to Rask's
33-save effort.

Merritt's
Marks:Reilly
Smith might not have been
anyone's pick to lead this team in goals after the trade that
brought him and Loui Eriksson to
Boston in exchange for Tyler Seguin, but sure enough, the
22-year-old Toronto native is atop the list after his second
two-goal performance in three games. Not for nothing, Smith is
currently at a 21.9 percent shooting percentage.

Tuukka Rask's
work in the first period had as much to do with the win as
anything. He started early with a real dandy of a save on Clarke
MacArthur after the Bruins were caught sleeping, and made a pair of
big stops with about six minutes to go in the opening frame. Rask
then showed poise and focus down the stretch, and even if he didn't
have any highlight-reel stops the rest of the way, he gave the
Bruins what they needed to stay on the offensive.

And for all of his
early struggles, Brad Marchand showed
an incredible amount of patience on a potentially frustrating
night. The winger who has been trying to get on track seemingly all
season had two shots on goal and two misses, but seemed to be
always in a dangerous position and was finally rewarded with the
late shorthanded marker. His assist
on Smith's first goal was also a thing of beauty, with the late
pass giving Lehner no time to slide over and cover Smith's
shot.

De-Merritts:Hard to find any standout issues on this particular
night, but the opening period was far from the Bruins'
best. The sluggish start might
have spelled doom against a better team, and it might have given
Ottawa something to be confident about heading into Saturday
night's game at the Scotiabank Centre.

Krejci also gets a lowercase de-merritt tonight after going 7-for-16 at
the faceoff dot and ending up with two giveaways. But when
you score a goal, just about everything is forgiven.

Notes:Smith's two-goal
night marked the seventh straight game in which a Bruin scored two
goals, matching a club record set in December, 1929. ... Patrice Bergeron's pair of assists moved him
into a tie for 18th place on the team's all-time scoring list with
454 points. The other guy in 18th place: Jumbo Joe
Thornton.... The Bruins
are now 6-1-0 in the first games of back-to-back sets this season.
They're 5-1-0 in the second games.

Final
Thoughts:It was an
important game for the Bruins on several levels, but the biggest
was that the team needed a good response after the disastrous loss
in Detroit on Wednesday. Looking energized and aggressive, the
Bruins dominated for long stretches, and bounced back well after
New York's two quick goals late in the first period. The Bergeron
goal was the sign of some strong work by the entire line, which is
finally starting to jell, and the defense continues to hold it
together with one of two regular starters in Adam McQuaid still out with an injury. Giving up the two
goals showed a lack of discipline by a team that had barely any in
Detroit, but what followed those lapses was an encouraging sign for
the Eastern Conference-leading Bruins.

Next: The B's get
right back to business Saturday night, welcoming Columbus to TD
Garden at 7 p.m.